Pneumatic legging for horses

ABSTRACT

A legging for the lower part of the leg of a horse, for treatment of weak tendons, or for eliminating or reducing filling or swelling of the leg. Stout fabrics such as canvas encircles the leg, and is held in place by cooperating strips of hook and loop type fasteners, the strips being wide enough to allow considerable adjustment in cross sectional size of the legging. An elastic strap fits under the fetlock of the horse, to hold the legging against movement on the leg. A rubber bladder between two layers of fabric of the legging is inflatable to any desired pneumatic pressure, to keep pressure on the affected part of the leg, and this pressure varies as the horse&#39;&#39;s leg moves, on account of the varying dimensions of the muscles within the legging. The end of the hose for supplying air to the bladder, with a valve thereon, is carried in a small protecting pocket on the outside of the legging.

United States Patent [191 Pontarella [451 Dec. 3, 1974 [76] Inventor: Armand Pontarella, 36 Lansing Cir.

North, Rochester, NY. 14624 [22] Filed: Sept. 19, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 398,797

52 us; Cl. '54/80 3,193,984 7/1965 Schubert 54/82 3,338,028 8/1967 Freeman 54/82 Voit 273/65 D Primary ExaminerRobert Peshock Assistant Examiner-.1; Q. Lever Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stonebraker & Shepard ABSTRACT A legging for the lower part of the leg of a horse, for treatment of weak tendons, or for eliminating or reducing filling or swelling of the leg. Stout fabrics such as canvas encircles the leg, and is held in place by cooperating strips of hook and loop type fasteners, the strips being wide enough to allow considerable adjustment in cross sectional size of the legging. An elastic strap fits under the fetlock of the horse, to hold the legging against movement on the leg. A rubber bladder between two layers of fabric of the legging is inflatable to any desired pneumatic pressure, to keep pressure on the affected part of the leg, and this pressure varies as the horses leg moves, on account of the varying dimensions of the muscles within the legging. The end of the hose for supplying air to the bladder, with a valve thereon, is carried in a small protecting pocket on the outside of the legging.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEL 5 31974 FIG. i

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The legs of horses are subject to various ailments which are often treated by wrapping the affected portion of the leg. This is customarily done by wrapping a long strip of bandage material spirally around the leg. This procedure is time consuming, both in applying the bandage and removing it later. Also, once the bandage has been applied, if it is found that it is too tight or too loose, the pressure cannot be altered except by removing the bandage and putting it on again, tighter or looser, as the case may be. Moreover, the horse often finds the bandage somewhat annoying and tries with his teeth to loosen the terminal end of the bandage, no matter how it may be tucked in or fastened with safety pins, and this may cause the bandage to unfurl partially or completely.

Such treatment for the legs of horseshas been used for decades, with no apparent improvement or progress to better techniques, although there has long been a need for a more efficient and satisfactory means for treating the legs of horses.

An object of the present invention is the provision of more efficient and satisfactory means for this purpose.

Another object is the provision of such means especially in a form which may be applied very quickly to the leg of the horse, may be removed quickly, and in which the pressure applied against the leg may be varied as desired, without removing the article from the leg of the horse.

A further object is the provision of such an article in a simple form which isinexpensive to make, which can be kept sanitary, and which the horse is not likely to be able to dislodge from his leg. 2

These objects arev accomplished, according to the present invention, by providing an adjustable legging of fabric which may be applied around the leg of the horse, the legging having a pocket containing a rubber bladder which may be inflated to any desired degree of air, pressure, without removing the legging from the leg of the horse, the legging structure having the various advantageous details and features further described below.

Many forms of pneumatic leggings for human beings are known in the art, one good example being the legging disclosed in US. pat. No. 2,694,395, granted Nov. I6, 1954 to William .I. Brown. However, so far as known at present, no one has attempted to providea pneumatic legging suitable for use on the leg of a horse, and those working in this field have apparently considered that a pneumatic legging for a horse would not be feasible or practical, since the arthas continued for many decades, as above mentioned, to use the familiar bandage wrappings on the legs of horses. The present construction as herein disclosed is believed to provide a significant advance in the treatment of various disorders or conditions of legs of horses, such as pulled or weak tendons, or filling or swelling of the leg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is an elevational view of the outer face of a pneumatic legging according to the present invention, laid out flat; and

. FIG. 2 is a cross section through the same, taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. I.'

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While some variation of details is possible, the legging of the present invention, in its preferred form, comprises a main body of stout fabric such as canvas, the major portion of the area of the legging being of two thicknesses to provide a pocket between them for receiving a rubber bladder for containing air. As clearly seen in FIG. 2, this main portion of the body has an inner wall of layer 11 and an outer wall or layer 13, both conveniently of canvas or duck. The expression inner refers to the side which engages with the leg of the horse when the article is wrapped around the leg, while outer refers, of course, to the opposite side which is exposed to the air when the legging is applied to the horse.

These two layers 11 and 13 may be formed integrally At the right hand edge of this double-walled body there is a single thickness flap or flange 21, of the same material, stitched to the double wall portion preferably by the same stitching 17 above mentioned. At the left hand edge of the double walled portion is another flap or flange 23, attached to the double-walled portion by stitching shown schematically at 25. These flaps 21 and 23 preferably extends through the full height of the double walled portion, as seen in FIG. 1.

Extending vertically on the outer face 13 of the double walled portion, near the right edge thereof, is a fairly wide strip 31 of one element of a hook and loop type fastener, while a wide strip of the cooperating other element of the hook and loop type fastener extends vertically along the inner face of the flap 23. These elements 31 and 33 are stitched to the members 13 and 23, respectively. Separable fasteners of the hook and loop type are well known in the fastening art, one element consisting of a great multiplicity of closely spaced tiny hooks, the other element consisting of a multiplicity of closely spaced tiny loops which may be engaged by the hooks. Such fasteners are frequently known generically as hook and loop tape fasteners.

They are available on the open market under the name of Velcro tape fasteners and under the name 3M Scotch Mate tape fasteners.

Preferably the loop tape is in the location shown at 31 in the drawings, while the hook tape isin the location shown at 33, although these positions can be reversed.

The dimensions of the article are such that it will fit snugly around the lower part of the leg of a horse when wrapped once around the leg and with the fastening tape 33 being brought against the outer surface of the considerable range of size available. In other words, the fastening tapes 31 and 33 do not have to be exactly aligned or centered with respect to each other. If the leg is large, only part of the width of the tape 33 may engage with part of the width of the tape 31, the tapes being offset from each other in one direction, while if the leg is rather small, the tapes can be offset from each other in the opposite direction.

Typical dimensions, given only as examples and not in a limiting sense, are as follows: the length from top to bottom may be about 13 inches; the width of the double walled part may be about 9 and inches at the top and eleven inches at the bottom; the right hand flap 21 may be about two inches wide; and the left hand flap 23 may be about three and a half inches wide. Each of the fastener tapes 31 and 33 may be about 2 inches wide.

The portion of the horse's leg which is to be treated is usually the portion extending upwardly from the fetlock for about inches or a foot. Therefore, the lower edge of the double-walled portion of the present legging is preferably notched centrally as indicated at 41 in FIG. 1, this notch receiving the fetlock when the legging is applied to the horses leg. An elastic tape 43 extends somewhat loosely across the notch 45 as indicated, both ends of the tape being sewn to the main fabric by stitching indicated schematically at 45. When the article is applied to the leg, the fetlock is received in the cut out notch 41, and the elastic strap 43 engages just below the fetlock, holding the legging in place against accidental upward movement on the leg.

A rubber bladder 51, of approximately the same outline as the double-walled fabric portion of the legging, is placed in the pocket formed between the inner and outer fabric layers ll and 13, these layers being stitched to each other, of course, at the bottom as well as the sides, to make a closed pocket at sides and bottom. The top edges of the walls 11 and 13 are finished by horizontal tapes 53 as illustrated, provided at intervals with conventional snap fasteners 55 by means of which the inner and outer walls may be secured to each other at their top edges. The bladder has a short hose connection 57 which comes out the top of the bladder and folds over the top edge of the outer wall 13 and extends downwardly into a small fabric pocket 59 stitched to the outer wall 13 as illustrated by schematic stitching 61. At the end of the rubber tube 57 is a conventional air valve 63 having a conventional part which may be turned by the fingers relative to the body, to close the valve or open it, as the case may be.

In use, the legging is applied to the leg of the hors just above the fetlock, with the elastic strap 43 engaged below the fetlock, as already indicated. The legging is wrapped around the leg of the horse, with the flap 21 against the leg, then the opposite side flap 23 brought around over the flap 21 so as to engage the fastener tapes 31 and 33 with each other. These tapes provide sufficient engagement to prevent accidental displacement or disengagement in normal use, and hold the parts together sufficiently firmly so that, in most cases, the horse will be unable to disengage the legging by using his teeth on it, as horses may try to do. As above explained, the fastener tapes 31 and 33 are sufficiently wide so that they may be overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, to provide some variation in cross section of the legging, to accommodate legs of difierent size.

When the legging has been applied around the leg, the bladder 51 is filled with air introduced through the tube or hose 57. This can be done by mouth blowing, or by a tire pump or the like. When the horse trainer thinks that enough air has been introduced to provide the desired amount of pressure against the leg of the horse, the valve 63 at the end of the tube is screwed tight to close it, and the valve end of the tube is tucked inside the small pocket 59, where it is safely secured against flapping around and possibly hitting against the leg of the horse and making him nervous as he moves. If it subsequently develops that the pressure is not right, the valve can be pulled out of the pocket 59 and opened either to let some of the air out of the bladder, or to introduce additional air if required. Thus it is not necessary to take the legging off of the horse in order to increase or decrease the pressure.

The pneumatic legging has the advantage that as the horse walks (or runs) the changing size of the muscles of his leg will compress or relax the pressure on the bladder, thus varying the pressure over the entire area of the bladder, not just the area where the muscle action takes place.

The article may be kept very sanitary, since the snap fasteners may be unsnapped and the bladder may be lifted out of its receiving pocket, for easy washing of the entire legging, after which the bladder may be reinserted, the snap fasteners may be fastened together, and the legging is ready for use again on the same or a different horse.

The tapes 53 at the open or fourth edge of the bladder-containing pocket are folded over the raw edges of the respective fabric layers 11 and 13 and stitched thereto. The raw top and bottom edges of the lateral flaps 21 and 23 are similarly finished off by tapes folded over and stitched to those edges, as shown at 54. The free lateral edges of the flaps 21 and 23 may be similarly finished with tapes, if desired, but usually it is preferred to finish these lateral edges simply by making narrow stitched hems, as schematically shown in FIG. 2.

Although the legging is intended mainly for treating the portion of the lower leg of the horse which is above the fetlock, certain features of the invention are applicable to treatment of the upper leg, or of the upper part of the lower leg. For such purposes, the elastic strap 43 is not needed and is preferably omitted. Also the notch or recess 41 may be omitted, making the lower edge of the fabric and bladder go straight across.

What is claimed is:

1. A pneumatic legging for treating the leg of a horse, comprising two thicknesses of fabric forming a pocket between them, fastener means for holding said fabric detachably in a position wrapped around the leg of a horse at an elevation at least mainly above the fetlock of such leg, an air-retaining bladder within said pocket, said pocket being substantially permanently closed at three edges and being open at a fourth edge for easy removal and insertion of said air retaining bladder, other fastener means for keeping said fourth edge substantially closed except whenit is to be opened for insertion or removal of said bladder, and a valved air tube extending from said bladder to an accessible location externally of said pocket, for introducing air into and releasing air from said bladder, to adjust the pressure of the legging against the leg of the horse without having to remove the legging from the leg.

2. A' legging as defined in claim 1, wherein one of said fastener means is hook and loop tape fastener means.

-3. A legging as defined in claim 2, further comprising a lateral flap of a single thickness of fabric extending laterally from one edge of said pocket, said fastener means including a hook tape and a loop tape, one of said tapes being secured to one face of said lateral flap,

6 legging is applied to the horses leg.

5. A legging as defined in claim 1, wherein said air tube extends from said bladder out through said fourth edge of said pocket, and a relatively small tuberetaining pocket on the outer face of said bladdercontaining pocket, said air tube being folded over said fourth edge of said bladder-containing pocket and being tucked into said tube-retaining pocket.

6. A legging as defined in claim 1, wherein said pocket and said bladder are both of generally rectangular outline with a recess notch in their bottom edges to receive the fetlock of the leg to which the legging is applied, and a retaining strap of elastic material extending across said recess notch at an elevation below the top edge of the notch, both ends of said elastic strap being secured to said fabric at the sides of the notch. 

1. A pneumatic legging for treating the leg of a horse, comprising two thicknesses of fabric forming a pocket between them, fastener means for holding said fabric detachably in a position wrapped around the leg of a horse at an elevation at least mainly above the fetlock of such leg, an air-retaining bladder within said pocket, said pocket being substantially permanently closed at three edges and being open at a fourth edge for easy removal and insertion of said air retaining bladder, other fastener means for keeping said fourth edge substantially closed except when it is to be opened for insertion or removal of said bladder, and a valved air tube extending from said bladder to an accessible location externally of said pocket, for introducing air into and releasing air from said bladder, to adjust the pressure of the legging against the leg of the horse without having to remove the legging from the leg.
 2. A legging as defined in claim 1, wherein one of said fastener means is hook and loop tape fastener means.
 3. A legging as defined in claim 2, further comprising a lateral flap of a single thickness of fabric extending laterally from one edge of said pocket, said fastener means including a hook tape and a loop tape, one of said tapes being secured to one face of said lateral flap, the other of said tapes being secured to the opposite face of said pocket near the lateral edge thereof remote from said flap.
 4. A legging as defined in claim 3, further comprising a second lateral flap of a single thickness of fabric extending laterally from an edge of said pocket remote from the edge from which the first mentioned flap extends, said second flap being positioned and dimensioned to lie against the horse''s leg inside part of the pocket and part of the first mentioned flap when the legging is applied to the horse''s leg.
 5. A legging as defined in claim 1, wherein said air tube extends from said bladder out through said fourth edge of saiD pocket, and a relatively small tube-retaining pocket on the outer face of said bladder-containing pocket, said air tube being folded over said fourth edge of said bladder-containing pocket and being tucked into said tube-retaining pocket.
 6. A legging as defined in claim 1, wherein said pocket and said bladder are both of generally rectangular outline with a recess notch in their bottom edges to receive the fetlock of the leg to which the legging is applied, and a retaining strap of elastic material extending across said recess notch at an elevation below the top edge of the notch, both ends of said elastic strap being secured to said fabric at the sides of the notch. 